History

Knowing that Evelyn should be at work, he drove over to his parents' home. Evelyn's car was gone so at least there would be no confrontation with her. His mom looked worried when she let him in the house.

"How are you doing Dwight?"

"Not nearly as well as I'd hoped to be before my life turned to shit."

"Don't talk like that. Everything's going to be alright. You just need time. Evelyn told us that you kicked her out. Wasn't that a bit harsh? I mean with the baby and all?"

Dwight said nothing in reply. He just stood there looking at the person he used to love as his mother. The tone she was taking already told him which side she was taking. Of course, he already believed that his parents were lost to him anyway. Finally, he spoke.

"Where's Earl?" he asked.

"Your father's at work son. If you like I can call him and ask him to come talk with you, would you like that? She inquired.

"I'm not talking about Earl, my father, or your husband. Where's Earl, your stepson? Is he sleeping?" Her eyes opened so wide he thought they might fall out of the sockets.

"Stepson? What? What do you mean, Dwight? I don't have a stepson." She claimed.

He handed her a photocopy of the DNA report and gave her time to absorb it.

"Where did you get this? Is this a trick? Is someone trying to mess up your marriage?"

"It's no trick mother. I am not Dwight Earl Underwood's father. Your husband is. How long have you known?

She just stood there trembling. Then the tears began and she sat down on the couch.

"Please!" She begged. Don't ask me!"

"I need to know mother. When did my wife and my father have sex and get her pregnant with his baby? And how long have you known?" He seethed.

She lost control and sobbed desolately. He stood there patiently waiting for her to regain some semblance of control before resuming the conversation. She wiped her tears with the tissues he handed her and she blew her nose twice.

"You. You were never supposed to know." She took a deep sigh and continued. "Evelyn had her tryst with that billionaire on one of the days she was in Wilmington at some seminar. She said she upped the meeting date with him to make you believe she hadn't gone through with it. But afterward, she felt so guilty and upset over being unfaithful to you, before she returned home, she came by here that Saturday afternoon. I was at my mother's for the weekend so your dad was here alone. She was inconsolable and incoherent. She couldn't hardly talk. It took her the better part of an hour just to get it out that she had cheated on you. So, as a measure to calm her down, he gave her some brandy, just to calm her nerves. She kept asking for more, he thought to numb her pain so he kept giving it to her and began drinking with her so she wasn't drinking alone."

She went on, "Evelyn finally was able to compose herself and tell him the whole sordid story. She just knew you would be able to tell that she had been with Daniel and she was terribly afraid of losing you. The lure of the money was just too great of a temptation for her to resist. She thought she could later say she won big at gambling in Vegas or something like that so you would accept the money under that pretense. But then she would have these horrible bouts of depression saying she wanted to die. He tried his best to console her and encourage her. By then, they were both totally drunk, I mean almost staggering drunk. Evelyn later told us that alcohol always makes her susceptible to sex and that is why she only drinks when you were around to protect her.

"When it, the alcohol began affecting her, that way, she, well, she began kissing him and hugging him and saying she loved him, thinking it was you. She desperately wanted to make love with you and that's what she thought she was doing. He was too drunk to resist and being a weak man, accommodated her. It was just the one time that night. Never again, EVER! When they woke Sunday morning, they realized what had happened. When I got home, they both confessed everything to me. I was livid and ready to divorce your father myself. But after Evelyn's begging and pleading on his behalf, I looked at it for what it was, a huge mistake. A once in a lifetime mistake. We decided to encourage her and help her save her marriage with you. We knew your history with Patricia and that it would be over for certain if you ever found out. So yes, we helped her, thinking we were helping you at the same time."

Harriet continued, "She was terrified when she became pregnant. She desperately wanted to confirm that you were the father and not Daniel nor your dad. She couldn't very well ask you to give a blood sample to perform the prenatal test without revealing her misdeeds, so your father gave his blood, just to eliminate him as a candidate. We were all devastated, completely devastated when the results came back showing your father to be the sperm donor of the child she was carrying. We knew the baby would have strong family characteristics, and he does, so you would have no reason to suspect that it was anything other than your own child."

"And so you all plotted to lie to me and deceive me? Make me believe I had a child when I remained childless? I don't have a son. He does."

"Oh no! Don't think that for a moment! It's YOUR baby one hundred percent. Your dad has no desire to infringe on your fatherhood. He would never try to take that away from you. You're the only father little Dwight will ever know. That's the way it must be."

"Angrily Dwight hurled, "He's my half-brother, mom! NOT my son. I've been raising my half-brother while all of you have been laughing at me behind my back!"

"There's no way...." She started but he interrupted her.

"SHUT UP MOM! JUST SHUT UP! I've heard enough. Thank you for finally telling me the truth after years of lying to my face every day. I am divorcing Evelyn and no power on earth will stop me, not you, not dad, and certainly not that whore! I guess legally, the bastard child is mine since my name is on the birth certificate. So I'll make it easy for you all. I'll sign away all of my parental rights and you all can do whatever you want with him. He's not my child, never was, and never will be. I know this is not his fault and like me, he's innocent, but sometimes the innocent have to pay for the sins of the guilty, just like I'm paying now."

She started to correct him when he stopped her again.

"Listen to me and listen to me carefully. As far as I am concerned, I no longer have any parents. Both of you are dead to me and that's the way it will be for the rest of my life. When you die, leave everything to the bastard child. I will refuse to accept anything from either of you and I will refuse to go to either of your funerals. I'm sure my whore wife, with her two million dollars, will take very good care of you, especially since he is the father of her child. You now have a replacement son, so you don't need me. I just hope dad doesn't end up fucking his other son's wife too and getting her pregnant. I'm done. Goodbye and good riddance!" He said in a fit of anger.

She fell to the floor loudly wailing uncontrollably as he stomped out of the house. He was glad he didn't have that confrontation with his father. He might have become physical and he didn't want that to happen. So now his loss was complete. In the span of just two weeks, he lost his wife, lost his son, and lost both of his parents. They were all dead to him and he had to close that chapter of his life. Before the loss could overwhelm him again, his thoughts turned back to Jeanette. She was the only bright spot in his life, but she was so bright, it was enough for him to cling to and overcome the darkness which had tried to envelop him.

Evelyn sent Dwight literally dozens of texts, relentlessly every single day. On top of that, she called him ten to fifteen times a day and, because he never answered, left him numerous messages. He considered simply changing his number or even possibly getting another phone. But he felt that doing so would be surrendering chunks of his life to her and he was going to stand his ground.

She would just have to learn that he had severed all emotional connections between them.

Finding Dwight non-responsive, Evelyn then stepped up her game and began visiting him at the university. He had informed security to prevent her from having access to him while he was at work. She often became unruly and spouted hateful things to the officers inhibiting her access to her husband. She threatened to sue them and have them fired, offering every threat she could lob at them, but she was continually escorted off the premises. One thing they did have, however, was their body cam recordings of their interactions with her.

Chapter 14

He stayed away from home as much as he could because he knew she would also confront him there. Jeanette invited him to her home frequently and cooked for him as often as she could convince him to come over. To buy additional time away from home, they saw quite a lot of movies together at the movie theater. Jeanette loved every minute she could sequester him away from his former life. His neighbors informed him of Evelyn's frequent evening visits, expecting to see him. She reportedly rang the doorbell impetuously and knocked loudly on his door. She was fast becoming a neighborhood nuisance. Many of the neighbors were concerned as to why he couldn't reunite with Evelyn for the sake of the baby. Dwight would just roll his eyes and walk away.

A few times, she came to the house in the middle of the night, constantly ringing the doorbell and knocking loudly on the door, yelling for him to talk to her. He called the police on her at least a half dozen times for disturbing the peace and for harassment. Finally, he could take no more and called his attorney Vera Tanner, who promptly presented the police reports, the body cam footage, and the sheer quantity of texts and emails on his phone as evidence and succeeded in obtaining a restraining order against her for harassment and had her served. She couldn't come within 500 feet of him, his home, or his palace of occupation at any time. Violation of that order would land her in jail.

Then things became even worse. The best he could figure out was that Evelyn must have hired a private investigator to follow and watch him nearly twenty-four-seven, and reported his whereabouts to her or someone. Because nearly everywhere he went, either alone or with Jeanette, many of their common friends would soon show up, pleading with him to call her or talk to her and reconcile with her, for her and the baby. When he declined their advice and recommendations, they vilified him calling him a baby and a coward. He couldn't very well get restraining orders on a hundred people, so he would often just leave and go home.

Jeanette asked Dwight why Evelyn was being so tenacious, and pursuing him so zealously in the wake of everything that had been revealed. Dwight just said that Evelyn was the epitome of the old adage, "To a hammer, everything is a nail." She was just going to keep hammering away until she got what she wanted, or so she thought.

Dwight and Jeanette had both had added the phone-finder app with GPS to both of their phones in case either one needed to know the whereabouts of the other. Their relationship was growing closer and love was blooming. Dwight had not yet become intimate with her because he didn't want her to think it would be a revenge-type thing. But she felt special to him and knew that they only needed time. One thing she made him agree to was a signal. Jeanette knew that there would be times that they would not be together and if a group of Evelyn's friends ganged up on him, it could get nasty real fast, so she programmed a speed-dial text that would be sent any time he pressed and held the number 9. She would instantly receive a non-verbal 911 text from him and she would then drive to wherever he was to help him escape the pressure any group of her friends would try to bring to bear.

On a Thursday night, Steve and Sonya, along with Greg and Debbie all came to his door. Of course, he invited them in. After all, they were HIS friends long before they were ever HER friends. Once inside, he offered them refreshments and thanked them for coming to his aid, reminding them how much their friendship meant to him. Imagine his shock when all four of them ganged up on him.

Sonya jumped into the fray first, "Dwight, we're your friends, your best buddies, but we just can't sit idly by while you throw your life away. This is not the Dwight we have come to know and love. How dare you run away from your responsibilities, abandoning your only child and loving family and turning your back so coldly on your own father and mother!"

"That's right man," Steve chimed in. "Sure she made a mistake and she admits it. Hell, she told us all the despicable details and we were all royally pissed at her for doing what she did. But then she has made up for it every day of her life since then. She's been the perfect wife. You need to forgive her man. It was a one-time thing. Anybody can forgive a one-time thing. Stop acting like a baby!"

Greg added his two cents worth, "I can understand why you would be upset to learn what she did. Hell, I would have blown my top too, at first. But then when you look at the big picture and the happiness Evelyn has given you every day since then, there's no way you can hold that against her. All four of us agree that you gotta give her another chance man. Forgive and forget, that's what we say, and you would do well to invite her back into your life."

Dwight saw Debbie nodding in agreement at every word her husband had just said. Apparently, Evelyn has contaminated his lifetime friendships as well. Whether or not she was paying them off, he didn't know. All he knew was that they weren't acting like his friends any longer. So he asked them a question.

"Forgive and forget, huh? Do you all agree with that?" He furtively asked.

"That's right Dwight," Debbie confirmed. That's what every one of us would do and you're one of us, so you should do likewise. Don't you see Dwight? It's for the best!"

With a smile on his face, Dwight picked up a pen and paper, acting as if he was getting ready to write. "Okay, I'm glad to learn that you all feel that way. As it so happens, I have Friday and Saturday nights open right now. So, Sonya, you and Debbie confer for a moment and tell me which one of you will come over here Friday night and fuck my brains out and which one will fuck me Saturday night? It's been a while for me and I could use a good fucking."

The four of them gasped at once. "Hey man," Steve began, "What the hell are you going on about? This is about getting you and Evelyn back together again. You're talking crazy man and if we weren't such good friends, I'd have already beat the shit out of you for even suggesting such a thing!" He grated.

"I see" Dwight highlighted, "So neither one of the four of you believe a word of that shit you just gave me about forgiving and forgetting. If Evelyn fucks around on me, it's okay. I should just forgive her. But when it comes to your own wives, it's a completely different story. Neither of you is willing to share your wives with me. And if we did somehow get together and fuck behind your backs, neither of you would be in much of a forgiving mood, would you?"

Dead silence filled the air. "That's what I thought," Dwight added. So until both of my FORMER best friends are willing to allow me to bed their wives, I don't want to hear another word of this shit about forgiving and forgetting or letting bygones be bygones. Now if you don't mind, I'm pissed off at the four of you and gravely disappointed as well. I thought that you were MY friends, not hers. Apparently, I was mistaken. I'd like you all to leave, please. Just go, without another word, before I say something I will REALLY regret.

After they'd left, Dwight felt the pangs of loss of lifetime friendships. Their betrayal might not have been as devastating as Frank's had been long ago, but all four of them had betrayed him for Evelyn's benefit right in his own house. Apparently, he would have to totally rethink who really were his friends.

A similar event occurred the following night. He and Jeanette were watching a movie on his couch in the den when his doorbell was repeatedly rung. He checked the peephole in his front door and saw both of his parents standing there on the porch and she was holding little Dwight who was crying. He was almost moved to let them in but then realized that he had meant every word he spoke to his mother that day and they were dead to him. When they wouldn't stop ringing his doorbell, he turned off the circuit breaker that fed power to the doorbell, silencing it. When they realized that it was no longer ringing, they began banging relentlessly on the door. Dwight ordered them away and told them to leave immediately and that if they didn't, he would call the police.

Apparently, they didn't believe him. They continued banging non-stop and yelling that they were not leaving until he let them in to talk. Sadly, Dwight felt that they had left him no choice. He called the police explaining that he was estranged from his parents and they were harassing him at his home disturbing the peace of the neighborhood. He asked them to intervene before his dad became violent. He said he didn't want anyone to get hurt, least of all the baby they had with them. The presence of a child sped up their response and a police car showed up in less than five minutes. They were politely asked by the officers to leave and not return without an invitation.

Evelyn's friends were ceaselessly showing up everywhere he went. Dwight had come to expect it and had prepared a pat response to everyone who dared to try to bully him into reconciliation. Every couple that approached him, he quickly asked the husband, "Would you let me have sex with your wife right now and then forgive us both afterward?" In each case, they would slip away without answering. Over time, such confrontations were becoming fewer and farther in between and he and Jeanette were both thankful for that.

The new development that grew out of those circumstances was that Dwight and Jeanette were beginning to be perceived as a couple around the university campus. All of his coworkers knew the circumstances and understood that a divorce was in the works. Often several new friends would meet up with them after hours for a meal or dining or dancing. A new social circle was emerging completely outside of the reach of Evelyn's influence, which delighted the couple. Dwight still dearly loved his job and actually missed very few classes that he was teaching. He was glad that he had decided to stand his ground and stick things out. His old life was slowly passing away as his new one was taking its place. He still missed the relationships that had left holes in his heart, but his love for Jeanette was quickly rushing in to fill the voids.

Two weeks had gone by and not a soul had approached Dwight pleading Evelyn's case for reconciliation. It appeared as if she had finally called off the dogs and he was relieved that perhaps she was now seeing the light. She still had refused to sign any divorce papers, nor even contact his attorney either directly or through her own. It was as if she believed ignoring the issue would make it go away.

It was a Saturday night and Dwight had made plans to meet Jeanette at a nearby sports bar/restaurant. He was nearly at the place when he received a call from Jeanette.

"Hi, honey. I'm sorry but it looks like I'm going to have to stand you up tonight."

"Oh? What happened? Are you okay?" He asked.

"I'm fine. You remember Tracie over in the engineering department?"

"I've heard the name but I can't say that I really know her." He replied.